Slovakia is the only member of the eurozone to acquire an exemption from contributing towards the increase in the second bailout mechanism for Greece, said Prime Minister Iveta Radičová on Thursday, October 27, following negotiations at the EU summit in Brussels on Wednesday.
"Slovakia won't contribute to this programme of increase. The Slovak Republic has an exemption and will only take part in this programme at the level of its previous commitments, nothing more," Radičová said, as reported by the TASR newswire. Asked how she had managed to push this through, Radičová said that it wasn't at all simple. "This wasn't easy, but we made clear that we have our limits, we have our conditions and we simply won't cross this line," she said, adding that Slovakia's arguments were rational.
The second bailout for Greece is to be raised from €109 billion to €130 billion in total, an increase of €21 billion, according to an agreement that took shape after nine hours of negotiations. According to Radičová, most of the discussion between the 17 eurozone leaders concerned the possible options for hauling Greece out of its debt crisis. The first steps aimed at resolving this will be the "voluntary participation of private banks to the extent of 50 percent [a 50-percent 'haircut' in terms of Greece's debt]", said Radičová, adding that the country's debt should fall by €100 billion as a result.
Slovakia won't save anything on the exemption that it was granted, as it will have to contribute the same amount to other bail-outs, Finance Minister Ivan Mikloš said at a press conference. "The only difference is that our share will now represent 1.06 percent of €109 billion, and not of €130 billion. We'll therefore provide guarantees to a lower level, but [our contribution] to other programmes will be increased by the same difference, so we won't save anything," said Mikloš.
Source: TASR
Compiled by Zuzana Vilikovská from press reports
The Slovak Spectator cannot vouch for the accuracy of the information presented in its Flash News postings.
